Euro organisers have been stunned by an outbreak of Kylian Mbappe-mania which saw them swamped by 100,000 ticket applications just to watch Real Madrid’s new superstar train.
Mbappe will be put through his paces with the rest of France’s highly-fancied squad at the 4,000-capacity Home Deluxe Arena in the historic cathedral city of Paderborn this evening after arriving in Germany yesterday.
After announcing the session would be opened up to the public, the demand for free tickets to see Mbappe alongside other big names like Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele exploded. The stadium is home to SC Paderborn, a club that finished seventh in Bundesliga 2 last season.
The city’s population is just under 150,000 – but fans were prepared to travel from miles around just to get a glimpse of the player who has just walked out of Paris St Germain to join England ace Jude Bellingham at the Bernabeu. Didier Deschamps’ team are many people’s favourites to go all the way in the tournament after losing the World Cup Final to Argentina two years ago.
Mbappe, the superstar forward who has joined Madrid in a deal that has netted him a £127million signing on fee and a five-year contract worth a bank-busting £265,000-a-week after tax, is the main attraction. He quit PSG at the end of his contract with Real looking to launch another Galacticos era just weeks after winning the Champions League for a 15th time by beating Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
France open their Euro bid against Austria in Dusseldorf on Monday. Holland and Poland are also in their group.